John The Explorer Ventures Into Mental States (6)
The lonely count things;
they think backwards
and count things.
How many years since
their life’s love died,
days since their last good motion,
number of tea-bags
left in the packet.
From an envelope John pours
round radish seeds
into his pink palm,
rolls them apart with a fingertip,
counts them all
and tries to estimate how many
red radishes he will eat
in an average summer week.
Glancing to the window
he looks forward a moment
to a sunny day in his garden,
pausing with the birdsong.
The glass is speckled
with condensation.
John counts the days now
since it was not wet
underfoot.
they think backwards
and count things.
How many years since
their life’s love died,
days since their last good motion,
number of tea-bags
left in the packet.
From an envelope John pours
round radish seeds
into his pink palm,
rolls them apart with a fingertip,
counts them all
and tries to estimate how many
red radishes he will eat
in an average summer week.
Glancing to the window
he looks forward a moment
to a sunny day in his garden,
pausing with the birdsong.
The glass is speckled
with condensation.
John counts the days now
since it was not wet
underfoot.
magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The